Our rights to vote are about to expire...
yes expire..
what do yall think..
this came up last year.. and nobody wanted to deal with it..
what yall say?

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/intro/intro.htm
The Voting Rights Act, adopted initially in 1965 and extended in 1970, 1975, and 1982, is generally considered the most successful piece of civil rights legislation ever adopted by the United States Congress. The Act codifies and effectuates the 15th Amendment's permanent guarantee that, throughout the nation, no person shall be denied the right to vote on account of race or color. In addition, the Act contains several special provisions that impose even more stringent requirements in certain jurisdictions throughout the country.

Adopted at a time when African Americans were substantially disfranchised in many Southern states, the Act employed measures to restore the right to vote that intruded in matters previously reserved to the individual states. Section 4 ended the use of literacy requirements for voting in six Southern states (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia) and in many counties of North Carolina, where voter registration or turnout in the 1964 presidential election was less than 50 percent of the voting-age population. Under the terms of Section 5 of the Act, no voting changes were legally enforceable in these jurisdictions until approved either by a three-judge court in the District of Columbia or by the Attorney General of the United States. Other sections authorized the Attorney General to appoint federal voting examiners who could be sent into covered jurisdictions to ensure that legally qualified persons were free to register for federal, state, and local elections, or to assign federal observers to oversee the conduct of elections.

Congress determined that such a far-reaching statute only in response to compelling evidence of continuing interference with attempts by African American citizens to exercise their right to vote. As the Supreme Court put it in its 1966 decision upholding the constitutionality of the Act:

Congress had found that case-by-case litigation was inadequate to combat wide-spread and persistent discrimination in voting, because of the inordinant amount of time and energy required to overcome the obstructionist tactics invariably encountered in these lawsuits. After enduring nearly a century of systematic resistance to the Fifteenth Amendment, Congress might well decide to shift the advantage of time and inertia from the perpetrators of the evil to its victims.

South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301, 327-28 (1966).

At the time the Act was first adopted, only one-third of all African Americans of voting age were on the registration rolls in the specially covered states, while two-thirds of eligible whites were registered. Now black voter registration rates are approaching parity with that of whites in many areas, and Hispanic voters in jurisdictions added to the list of those specially covered by the Act in 1975 are not far behind. Enforcement of the Act has also increased the opportunity of black and Latino voters to elect representatives of their choice by providing a vehicle for challenging discriminatory election methods such as at-large elections, racially gerrymandered districting plans, or runoff requirements that may dilute minority voting strength. Virtually excluded from all public offices in the South in 1965, black and Hispanic voters are now substantially represented in the state legislatures and local governing bodies throughout the region.

somewhat agreed.. but ppl died to get this right.. temporarily yes. but to get this right..
its up to us not to deface their memory.. by not addressing the issue?
Freedom is a farce as well.. with all the laws that govern.. whould we give that up as well?

Blaklioness said:

No disrespect to the well meaning ancestors, BUT....it's not exactly like the whole voting process isn't already a farce....jmo

No disrespect to the well meaning ancestors, BUT....it's not exactly like the whole voting process isn't already a farce....jmo

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I agree. Even though black people have the right to vote, black people have never been represented by any candidate. Also, who's to say the votes are actually counted? If they are, are they counted correctly? There are so many things wrong with the voting system, it wouldn't exactly be a bad thing if it did expire. At least then black people might move and do something different, instead of waiting on white presidential candidates to solve our problems.

I feel like if that take our right to vote
That might as well take our freedom
I agree that we are governed so heavy its crazy
Yet so many died for this I would be hurt
I think that no matter if they keep our right to vote
We will never get what we are looking for
Yet the right to vote is a blessing from God and the ppl that died for us

Well who cares if you sit on your butt and loose the right before then.. wonte matter much then will it?

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where has voting gotten black folks anywayz?
name one major bill that has been passed that has helped us...
in my eyes affirmative action has done more to hurt us then help...

and just for your clarification pm...voting is a choice and i choose not to since no one clearly represents my needs or my family's needs...it has not one single thing to do with sitting on my butt...you keep voting for these ******** if that makes u feel better about yourself...me personally, i choose not to pick between the devil and the devils son-in-law....imho

where has voting gotten black folks anywayz?
name one major bill that has been passed that has helped us...
in my eyes affirmative action has done more to hurt us then help...

and just for your clarification pm...voting is a choice and i choose not to since no one clearly represents my needs or my family's needs...it has not one single thing to do with sitting on my butt...you keep voting for these ******** if that makes u feel better about yourself...me personally, i choose not to pick between the devil and the devils son-in-law....imho

one love
khasm

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Right, right right!!!

What good is a vote, if there's no one that's going to do anything to change anything? Now, I agree that taking our vote away is a slap in the face, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking there will ever be someone serving as president, that will change anything for black people. All they do is talk the same rhetoric, and they get elected, and do a complete 180. Even if a black man or woman got elected, it wouldn't be someone that has the interests of black folks on their mind. It will be someone so far removed from the black community, that he/ she might as well be lily white. Voting is a distraction. It never does any good no matter how many of us vote. All the black people that voted in the last election are still disgruntled with the way we are represented in this country. 2008 will be the same unless we forget about what this country is willing to do for us, and concentrate on what we can do for ourselves.